Quote:
Originally Posted by blankall
I have to disagree w/ your analysis of this film. I don't think there are any "heroes" in this film. If you read the quotes presented at the end of the film by Martin Luthor King and Malcolm X, they represent opposite ways of dealing w/ what is essentially a messed up situation for everyone. One embraces peaceful resistance and one embraces violence.
The whole point of the movie is that there is no right answer to this question. Sal's pizza had been in the neighborhood for decades and was a fixture of the community. At the same time, it was not owned by the community. The bit w/ Radio Raheem's death was meant to show an overreaction from both sides that was caused by racial tension that went far beyond the store.
Mookie's character is in no way presented as heroic. Mookie is presented as lazy and with a sense of entitlement. He is a poor husband and a poor father. He is employed by Sal despite all of this. His reaction to destroy the window and set off the riot, is exactly that a reaction. The justification of which is presented as neither good nor bad in the final conversation he has w/ Sal.
Basically the whole point of the film is to ask the question; can we all get along or are we better off living separated? The film is one of the few films that dares to explore the latter.
|
I disagree totally.. kind of. I agree that during the bulk of the film, each character is presented as being flawed in some way. Each has their own racial stereotype or believes in one, or, they're either lazy or mean or whatever.
However at the end of the film, I feel that the rioters and Mookie in particular were givin a sense of empowerment, that they were glorified by their actions, and I honestly think the name of the film was in reference to burning down the pizzaeria and now harming Sal.